Coachella Valley Federation of Teachers, Local 2247

Chartered 1972

The Coachella Valley Federation of Teachers, Local 2247, was chartered in January of 1972. However, our origin goes back several years, when founder and organizer Stan Kay and others were politically active for many years in the Coachella Valley.

Palm Springs Desert Democratic Club president Stan Kay, a Coachella Valley High School teacher, was also a member of the Mexican-American Political Association, served on the executive board of the Palm Springs NAACP and was chairman of the CTA's Political Action Committee.

For years, many of us experienced the CTA's lack of expertise and commitment in representing teachers, particularly in job-related matters. We saw too many teachers intimidated, harassed and several probationary teachers dismissed on frivolous charges. In addition, most teachers were so afraid that they literally closed their classroom doors on their colleagues.

When a teacher sought help, advice and representation from the CTA staff representative, often he or she was told that there was nothing that could be done. Many teachers either resigned or ate the harassment and humiliation of the administrators.

In October of 1971, the Palm Springs Democratic Club invited Raoul Teilhet, state president of the California Federation of Teachers, as its guest speaker. Stan Kay asked Raul Loya, Ray Rodriguez and several others from MAPA to attend the meeting, confer with Teilhet and help organize an AFT local. Then Ken Eastman, a teacher at Coachella Valley High School was asked to join. He readily agreed.

After the Palm Springs Desert Democratic Club meeting, Teilhet agreed to attend an AFT organizing meeting the following week. With Teilhet's assistance we organized the Coachella Valley Federation of Teachers with about 20members from the three school districts, Palm Springs, Desert Sands and Coachella Valley High School.

Some of the charter members were: Ken Krall, Raul Loya, Ray Rodriguez, June Pausch, Stan Kay, Ken Eastman, Sam Smith, Johanna Herz, Bill Casper and Larry Hoffman. The new Local grew to 25-30members throughout the Coachella Valley.

Bill Casper, a Coachella Valley High School speech teacher, was our first president. We elected him because of his charisma, popularity and keen intelligence. We knew that to survive and grow, we needed Bill's leadership.

Subsequently the school districts formed their individual locals. The only eventual survivor was the Coachella Valley Federation of Teachers, representing the Coachella Valley Unified School District.

In 1975 Local 2247, still a fledgling teachers union, sued the Coachella Valley Unified School District over inequitable fringe benefits. The CFT law firm won the case at the local level, but lost it in the Appeals Court. The significance here was that we raised vital issues and fought for them.

During the years of survival, Local 2247CVFT found its place as a teacher advocate. As the CTA chapter lost sight of the individual, the AFT Local filled the gap. We helped individual teachers whose personal needs were being neglected and soon CTA defections swelled and 2247became the dominant teacher advocate in the district. The CVFT ran decertification elections against the CTA chapter in 1974, 1981 and finally in 1984became the bargaining agent representing over 400teachers.

Since then, the Coachella Valley Federation of Teachers, under the table leadership of Kenneth Krall, has achieved giant strides in salary benefits for the members of the bargaining unit. Local 2247 has been active at the state level of the teachers union, too. Ken Krall has served as a CFT vice president for the past five years and has served on the state legal committee. And in 1982, Sally Hamilton was honored by her selection to be a member of the CFT Women in Education Committee.

The going has not always been smooth but by keeping a clear-cut goal of accepting, recognizing, representing and defending every teacher, the Union has prevailed. This is the message Local 2247 wants every young and struggling Local to hear.

As an addendum may we cite a few additional specific benefits. Namely, from its inception, our Local provided important services. We always retained a local lawyer whom any of our members could call upon for a free consultation and reduced fees on any civil matter. Of course, on school-related matters we consistently utilized the CFT's law firm.

We always have had a monthly newsletter, numerous socials including wine and cheese gatherings, house parties and made the Union an ambience of friendliness. We also over the years presented outstanding AFT state and national speakers.

And there were times when we reached out to severe and tragic situations in the community itself, such as when the Garza family lost their home in a fire. We rose to the occasion, sponsoring emergency dance benefits to help them in their dire and desperate circumstance.

Simply said, in all, we spearheaded Teacher Advocacy in the Coachella Valley, inspired by and based on both need and integrity. May that devout essence glow as a continuum for those who follow.

(Stan Kay, contributor)

Weaver Federation of Teachers, Local 3483

Chartered 1975

The Weaver Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 3484 was chartered in 1975. The charter president was Steve Becker; other charter members included Lou and Del Meyer, Dave Aubertin, Karen Patterson, Karen Green, Greg Bender, Emmett Mullen, Rose Valdez, and Margaret Phillips. The first AFT representative was Maurice Fitzpatrick, later followed by Marian Hull.

This was a group of teachers that did not wish to be controlled any longer by CTA and their Burlingame headquarters. It was also opposed to agency shop, and wanted to be represented by an organization that was affiliated with organized labor. Since these teachers knew that a collective bargaining law for teachers was about to take effect, they wanted the support and expertise of a real union - not an Association that had opposed collective bargaining for years. They wanted the democratic right to vote on ratification of contracts and bargaining power at the table. And dues for the AFT were considerably lower than dues for the CTA, too.

In May, 1976, before the election Raoul Teilhet came to visit teachers at the Weaver School lounge. During lunch he gave an inspiring talk, giving undecided teachers something to think about. One of the things he talked about was the need for teacher unity. Unfortunately the local CTA chapter wasn't interested in merger proposals. The election was extremely close, but the Weaver Federation of Teachers lost by 2 votes.

This might have been the end of the story, but it wasn't. Many teachers were dissatisfied with their representation by the Association. They weren't alone. The Weaver classified employees were also dissatisfied with their representation, or rather lack of it. They had no contract and no power. The district had had the same board president and superintendent for almost 20 years. The District would tell classified employees, "You can have 2 or 3%".

Finally, on one of the coldest, foggiest nights ever, the entire classified employees unit met at the home of Me1 Branco and all agreed that they weren't feeling very good about the situation; in fact they weren't feeling well at all. They felt so bad that the next day they all called in sick. There were no bus drivers, aides, janitors, or cafeteria workers at school. Radio station KYOS reported that there was a "strange illness" at Weaver School. Parents were calling because their children were not picked up. The District called for substitute drivers and a few showed up to drive. But most busses on the streets had principals and vice-principals directing substitute drivers at the wheel. They were not professionals, though. The way you could tell that was when busses passed busses on the same street in opposite directions, with confused looking drivers staring startled at one another. It was all a complete surprise to the classified employees, who didn't really think that they could do it.

Dave Aubertin called California Federation of Teachers rep Marian Hull. She helped the Weaver classified run an election, and on March 16, 1981 they voted 46-3 to become affiliated with the AFT/CFT. A letter from first president Sherry Hymer announced the change on March 19. They were now to be called the Weaver Classified Employees Association of the Weaver Federation of Teachers, AFT, AFL-CIO, Local 3484. Hull gave assistance in negotiating the first contract, which included raises of 9, 9, and 9% over 3 years.

When Hymer resigned from the school, Me1 Branco was elected the new president. She is still serving. One of the major accomplishments of Local 3484 occurred in 1985. Neither teachers nor classified workers were satisfied with the performance of Superintendent Roy Ward and Board President Vanzile. Local 3484 found three candidates to run for the Weaver School Board election. All three had a reputation for fairness and possessed educational backgrounds. They included: Elizabeth McCabe, with a background in education and farming; Delores Cabezut-Ortiz, educator and author at Merced College; and Geri Procetto, Merced County Courts Recorder and active in community organizations.

These three individuals promised to support the classified workers in the District and the needs of education. The local produced many volunteers from its ranks. Members wrote and printed literature, went door to door, and held house meetings. In November all three candidates were elected members of the Weaver School Board.

The hiring practices were very poorly organized and arbitrary. The last bus driver that Ward hired was at step 7, top wage. No other employee had ever been hired at any step other than first, including one driver/custodian who had worked for fourteen years, left, and came back - to be hired at step one again! The classification system needed revision. By then our CFT rep was Bill Callahan. He got to work on designing a new system.

On December 12, 1986 the new board announced that Superintendent Roy Ward would be replaced by Principal Steve Becker (yes, the charter president of AFT Local 3484) on January 5, 1987. Callahan and Branco presented a proposal for a new classification system to Becker and the Board. They agreed the old system was unfair, changed it, and awarded compensation of advancement to the third step to 14-year employee Bill Buendia Jr. Money awards of $1000 each went to the three most senior drivers, Jean Souza, Mary Hernandez, and Grant Baker. Two other drivers, Willie Bledsoe and Lloyd Branco, and twenty year Custodian Frank Alonzo split $1000. These settlements were due to the ability of the local and the new board and superintendent to work together.

There are many changes at Weaver School: four new buses, computers in classrooms, newly constructed school offices, teachers lounge, workrooms and cafeteria additions. Student enrollment has enlarged from 500 to 1100. Thirteen new mobile units have been installed to accommodate enrollment. Plans to build another elementary school in Weaver District have been passed by the Board.

Our negotiations sessions have become more pleasant. The District and the Federation can trust each other to work to the advantage of employees, students and better education.

(Me1 Branco, contributor)

CFT Field Representatives Union

Established 1972

In Memory of Sam Bishop: A Short History of the CFT/Field Representatives Union

For those who've been around the CFT longer than most of us, these names may seem familiar: Hank Clarke, Don Henry, Hugh MacColl, Ralph Schloming and Bill Plosser. They were CFT staff representatives during the 50s and 60s. They had no union of their own, for if they did, most would have been the one and only member. In the late 60s, greatly due to the relentless efforts of Raoul Teilhet and his faithful side-kick Marie Whipp, the CFT began to grow. The times were right. Teachers were as frustrated with their lot as they were with the CTA (which got them there in the first place). Teilhet had the right message and a method of delivery without peer. As the CFT grew, so did its staff.

In 1972, at the first real training workshop for CFT staff, held at UC Santa Barbara, the California Federation of Teachers Field Representatives Union was formed. What else would one expect of a group of union activists brought together with a common employer? There were rights to be protected, salaries to be bargained, a contract to be negotiated, and a general all for one and one for all attitude prevailed. Besides, it was fun: a union of unionists so to speak.

Since 1972, many members of CFT/FRU have joined and moved on. Dick Arnold, Leona Sibelman, Mike Nye, Harriet Levy, Elsbeth Marshall, Rose Ungar, Ralph Lloyd and Sheryl Pettitt form this set of alumni. Rudy Kne, now an AFT national representative, is the only person to have served as a member of pre- and post-CFT/FRU who is not currently on the CFT staff. Probably the most notable of all however, a guru to many of us, was the soft-spoken, Mississippi-accented Sam Bishop. Sam was a charter member of CFT/FRU. Some eight years later he joined the staff of AFT. During his time on the CFT staff, Sam taught us much. Some of us worked our first strike under Sam's direction (Pajaro). He was the kind of person whom everyone liked as well as respected. Sam died of leukemia in 1979, a great and untimely loss to all of us. It is in Sam's honor that the current CFT/FRU members dedicate this page.

As for today's current roster of CFT/FRU - here we are, and whence we came, including the date we joined the CFT staff and CFT/FRU too! (You see we have a union shop.)

Clarence Boukas – August 1971, Staff of the Los Angeles Teachers Union, Staff of the Hawaii Federation of Teachers

Bill Callahan – January 1986, Past President of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 101, State Council, AFSCME Local 57, AFT Director for the California Health Care Organizing Project

Chuck Canniff – September 1972, Past President, Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers, past president Orange County Council of AFT Locals

University Council AFT

Established 1971

The history of the University Council/American Federation of Teachers can be traced back 25 years when the first AFT local was established at the University of California. The Berkeley Faculty Union (Local 1474) was chartered in 1963, and branching from it, the University Federation of Librarians (Local 1795, was established in 1967. Other campuses formed locals during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The University Council/AFT was formally organized on June 19, 1971, when seven AFT locals at the University of California voted to establish themselves as a council. At a meeting held in Los Angeles, representatives decided to withdraw from the United Professors of California and to form their own organization in order to more effectively organize at the University of California. In August of the year, an eighth local representing Berkeley librarians Berkeley voted to affiliate, and was soon joined by a ninth which had been started on the Irvine campus.

The first chair of the University Council-AFT was Paul Goodman, a History professor from the Davis campus. Patricia St. Lawrence, a Genetics professor at Berkeley, was the Northern Vice President, and Jack Blackburn, of the Labor Center at Los Angeles, was chosen as Southern Vice President. Shortly after the Council was formed Sam Bottone was hired as Executive Secretary.

Early issues the University Council/AFT took up included problems associated with the failure of many Assistant Professors to be granted tenure, and with salaries which lagged behind those at comparable universities across the country. Librarians were concerned with sexually discriminatory salaries, a nationwide phenomenon in which workers in female-dominated occupations were paid lower salaries than workers having similar educational requirements and responsibilities in male dominated occupations.

During the Spring of 1972, the Council was presented with one of its most serious crises: the building trades unions at the Berkeley and San Francisco campuses voted to go on strike against the University. The Berkeley/San Francisco librarians local honored the strike and placed demands of its own on the table. The ten-week walkout was the longest public employee strike in California at the time, and at its conclusion, the University administration provided a small raise to begin correcting librarian pay inequities.

In 1973 Assemblyman John Miller (D-Berkeley) introduced on the Council's behalf a pay inequity bill for librarians. It had the strong support from the CFT and its Legislative Advocate, Mary Bergan, the California Labor Federation, and from the California Library Association. The bill provided $340,000 for 1974/1975 to adjust librarian salaries upward to make them comparable to those of similar male-typed occupations.

The Council was successful in introducing and having signed into law an Open Files bill in 1978. The bill, by State Senator David Roberti (D-Los Angeles), provided employees access to their personnel files, with only the names and other identification removed from confidential materials. The CFT and California Labor Federation (and an 1lth hour call from its Executive Secretary-Treasurer, John F. Henning, urging Governor Jerry Brown to sign) were key to getting the bill into law. The University administration promptly refused to comply with the law, and the State of California and the UC/AFT took legal action to enforce compliance; the issue is still being litigated. Beginning in 1973, the Council made major efforts to secure collective bargaining legislation for academic employees at the University. The University Council/AFT argued for the inclusion of UC academic employees in several bills which were introduced in the Legislature. It was not until 1978, however, that a bill carried by Assemblyman Howard Berman (D-Los Angeles) – the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) – was signed into law. This act provided bargaining rights for both UC and State University and Colleges employees. The University Council/AFT sought, unsuccessfully, to have the bill amended so as to provide UC Academic Senate members the same bargaining rights as other groups included within the bill – UC Held the Senate units are spelled out in the law and their scope of bargaining is limited.

HEERA became effective July 1, 1979. The University administration was able to delay elections through extensive PERB unit determination hearings for four years. An election for librarians was and in June, 1983, PERB certified AFT as the bargaining agent. Bargaining began in December 1983, and a first contract was ratified by unit members in August 1984. Among the major gains: salaries would be increased at the same percentage as other academic employees, research funds were defined and specific amounts allocated by campus, a nine-month year option was established, peer review was protected, binding arbitration was provided as the last step of the grievance procedure, sick leave was broadened to include illness of family members, and the dual track for librarian promotion (administrative or specialist) was preserved.

In an election held in January 1984, some 2,000 Non-Senate Faculty chose the University Council/AFT as their exclusive representative. Bargaining began in May 1984, and continued for

two years, concluding in a first contract in May 1986. Major improvements in working conditions included: the first systemwide guidelines for regularizing retention and merit increase reviews; preserving the traditional right of the Academic Senates to set courseloads and determine curricular needs; setting maximum course loads; establishing the right of unit members to use departmental equipment, support services, and travel and development funds; and most importantly, making clear that there was no limit on the length of time a unit member could be employed at the University – previously there had been three to eight year limits imposed by various departments on various campuses.

The Council's work is not complete: we want to see present contracts strengthened, to bring bargaining rights to professors and researchers, to improve teaching and research, and generally to make the University of California a more open and democratic institution in which students are better served and faculty and staff work in a more productive and collegial way.

(Philip Hoehn, contributor)

Bakersfield Federation of Teachers, Local 1866

Chartered 1968

The Bakersfield Federation of Teachers #1866 has a proud history. We were originally chartered as the Kern County Federation of Teachers #643 on May 31, 1939. One prominent member was the father of our recently deceased State Senator Walter Stiern (whose distinguished career in the State Senate lasted 28 years).

We were rechartered as the Bakersfield Federation of Teachers on April 18, 1968. Some of our prominent early leaders were John Day, Brenda Boggs, Matt Michael, Takvor Takvorian, Robert Ramey, and Dennis Blackburn.

During the early 1970s Jack Brigham was elected president of our local. In addition to serving our local, Jack was elected president of the Kern, Inyo, and Mono Counties Central Labor Council for two terms and also served as a CFT vice president for three terms.

Our “most valuable member” for the past two decades has been James Schmitz who has served us as treasurer and vice president. Our local leaders since the mid-1970s have included Linda Randolph, Linda Carbajal, Phyllis Schmitz, Hugh McGowan, Fred Gonzales, Woody Bagwell, Jessie Ireland, Peggy Couch, and Annis Cassells.

We have sponsored softball tournaments, our country history day competition, and participated in local labor and political campaigns.

Our proudest moment takes place each year when we host our Teacher Honoree Dinner and present perpetual awards named for prominent AFT leaders.

We have listed the names of the BCSD educators who have received our perpetual awards and membership in our BFT Hall of Fame since 1982. Each has made a gift of their life, bringing excellence to our profession.

Since May of 1982, the BFT has recognized over 100 teachers, counselors, principals, and support personnel for their excellence and service to our students, community and profession.

The Albert Einstein Award for dedication to learning and excellence in academic achievement has been presented to Sharon Dormire, Shirley Bozina, Annis Cassells, Bob Fullenwider, Judith O'Brien, and Phyllis Schmitz. This year's honoree is Madeline Nichols of Emerson Jr. High.

The John Dewey Award for trailblazing in modern education while stressing student involvement has been presented to Peggy Couch, Richard Meeks, Oliver Brennan, Betty Saunders, Elaine Joke, and Ramona Gia. This year's honoree is Dwane Johnson of Longfellow School.

The Raoul Teilhet Award for leadership, dedication, and service to professional educators has been presented to James Schmitz, Donna Lathrop, Frederick Gonzales, Jack Brigham, and Linda Randolph. This year's honoree is Jessie Ireland of Williams School.

The Assemblywoman Dorothy Donahoe and Senator Walter Stiern Award for political leadership in support of public schools was initiated in 1985. (This will be the first time the award will have been presented since the passing of former State Senator Walter Stiern.) The three recipients have been Linda Carbajal, Annis Cassells, and Bill McLean. This year's honoree is Louie Vega of East Bakersfield High.

(Jack Brigham, contributor)

United Teachers of Oakland, Local 771

Chartered 1943

The Oakland local had its beginnings in the Bay Cities Federation of Teachers, local 349, AFT, AFL, chartered in 1934. Since that time the local has had numerous name changes including the Oakland/Alameda County Federation of Teachers, the Oakland Federation of Teachers, and its present title of the United Teachers of Oakland.

Local 771 received its charter on May 3, 1943. The President was Ed Cone, a committed teacher unionist who returned from retirement in 1976 to serve as the first Grievance Vice President of the newly formed United Teachers of Oakland. In addition to Ed Cone, the Oakland teachers who served as president of Local 771 over the years included Ed Ross, Ralph Steinhaus, Edward "Pete" Lee, Bob Hudson, Elman Bargfrede, Ron Miller, Maurice Besse, Tom Roland, Garlton Garske, Elizabeth Jay, Miles Myers, Eugene Horwitz, Dave Creque, Walt Swift, Barbara Bissell, and Al Rossi, the current President.

The Oakland local has a proud history of activity around social, educational, and professional issues. Ranging from opposition to the Viet Nam war, support for the Farmworkers Union, and active participation in the Bay Area Civil Rights Movement in the sixties and seventies to issues of restructuring and teacher professionalism in the eighties, local 771 has always been quick to pick up the cutting issues of the period. The Oakland local has won some landmark cases in its history of teacher advocacy. The Stokes case, for example, involved the straightforward concept that a school board had to follow its own rules, a ruling that provided a state-wide precedent.

In the early years AFT leaders in Oakland had to fight for recognition against a school administration and a local association that had little interest in teacher rights. From that beginning local Oakland AFTers had a sense of what a teaching profession that was worth fighting for should look like. Their vision was of a labor-affiliated teacher organization that could bring together both classified and certificated employees around their mutual interests with the power of organized labor behind them. But, it was also a concept of a union that had professional goals and a strong commitment to providing quality education to Oakland's students. These were leaders who saw that the role of teachers should include site and district leadership and should be accorded professional pay and status.

In 1946 the local supported workers during the general strike centered on the downtown Oakland shopping area. The local's major concerns at that time were salaries, pensions, duty free lunch periods free towels for students in P.E. classes, coaching stipends, the length of the school day, teacher rights and academic freedom, school discipline, desegregation, the election of school board candidates concerned with the classroom, and the involvement of the public in decision making. (The local advocated night board meetings and the district eventually adopted such a policy.) Most of these issues remain important and unresolved regardless of the passage of more than 40 years.

In the late sixties, the local joined with community groups in protesting the selection of a new superintendent. The opposition culminated in a sit-in during a school board meeting. NAACP representatives and Local 771. President Dave Creque ended up in a melee with the police. After billy clubs and brief cases finished flying, Creque and the NAACP leaders found themselves under arrest charged with anarchy, trespass, and a variety of other charges. The defendants, known as the Oakland Five, ultimately agreed to a plea of Nolo Contendere for the crime of standing in the aisle at a public meeting. The upshot of the controversy, however, was the hiring of Marcus Foster, widely considered the best superintendent that Oakland has had.

Local 771 has also provided the longest running student scholarship in the district. The Allara-Payton-Rosen-Cooperrider Scholarship has provided Oakland students with $500 scholar- ships since the late fifties. The scholarship is awarded to the students who show academic excellence and financial need, and who intend to pursue a career in education or some other form of public service.

In 1976 the United Teachers of Oakland (UTO) was formed out of a merger between the Oakland Federation of Teachers (OFT) and the Teachers Association of Oakland (TAO). The merger brought together leaders from both the Oakland Education Association (OEA) (Marge Beach, a former president of the OEA; Sally Eskew, Jim Welsh, and others) and the OFT (Barbara Bissell, Walt Swift , Miles Myers, Al Rossi, Bill Winston, and others) to form an organization that stood for merger, labor affiliation, and collective bargaining. Stan Kistner, another former OEA president also joined UTO at that time. Although UTO has not yet succeeded in winning the right to represent all Oakland teachers in bargaining, the mix of ideas that set the groundwork for UTO continues to inform its activities and goals.

UTO went on to represent two bargaining units for the next decade: the adult education hourly teachers and paraprofessionals in the child development centers. UTO contracts have consistently ranked at the top among similar bargaining units. Throughout the period UTO bargaining team shave worked closely with the Central Labor Council of Alameda County, AFL-CIO. UTO's delegates on the council include Dave Creque who is on the Council's Executive Committee, and Lanny Holm and Linton Byington who have been CLC delegates for UTO for more than a decade.

Local 771 has never lacked for quality in leadership over the years. Grievance Vice Presidents for UTO have helped, both certificated and classified employees in and out of the units that were officially represented by UTO. Among the grievance officers that have served UTO were: Dave Creque, Mike Bradley, Ed Cone, June Brumer, Felice York, and Kathie Rossi. The current Grievance Vice President is Jennifer Block, an adult ed teacher formerly the executive vice president for the adult ed chapter of UTO.

Over the last decade two Oakland teachers have served the local as treasurer: Steve Johnson and Doris Vicker, the current treasurer. UTO’s organizing effort has been coordinated by hard working teachers who have somehow found the time at the end of the school day to put together phone trees and run work parties. The original Organizing Vice Presidents for UTO were Sally Eskew (TAO) and Al Rossi (OFI). Since then they have included Lorrie Baker and Susie Myers. The present organizing officer is Carol Squicci. Other UTO vice presidents have included: Lanny Holm, Rachel Stem (well known for her workshops on the Holocaust and Women's Rights), Carolyn Rising, Rachel Bartlett-Preston, and Grace Morizawa. Valerie Messer has served as Membership Secretary, and Shirley Haynes represents CFT on a joint AFT-CSEA state-wide committee on safety in the schools.

UTO's organizing vice presidents have been responsible for organizing committees that have provided the phone contact between UTO and its building reps. The Area Officers on those committees have included Debbie San Juan, Sylvia Parker, Grace Morizawa, Lorrie Baker, Jean Roberson, and Jon Kramer.